


all that i can hear is music from the back

by littletownstreet



Series: πler: An American Musical [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Hamilton is the !same (awful), Sickfic, a chronicle of aaron burr's descent into madness told through sonnets, fratboy!burr, math!eliza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-15 20:58:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8072518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littletownstreet/pseuds/littletownstreet
Summary: "Aaron Burr stole my fucking jacket."Eliza attends Aaron Burr's rager against her better judgment, meets a handsome stranger, and follows a series of sonnets in order to return property back to Burr's poor guests.





	

**Author's Note:**

> In which the author begs you to pretend college dorms have closets and ignore whatever the actual layout of the Princeton campus is. to be clear this shouldn't have ever seen the light of day and was minimally edited. riddled with inside jokes and i apologize to anyone who isn't blaire that's reading this.

Angelica called to tell Eliza she’d be arriving on campus in fifteen minutes almost an hour ago. Now it was midnight and all Eliza really wants to do is be anywhere but here. The faster Angelica gets here the faster she can introduce her to some Princeton students engaging enough her sister won’t notice when she hightails it the _fuck_ out of this party. She’s been to her fair share of college parties, but something about Aaron Burr throwing a rager made her deeply uncomfortable.

 

 _Angelica has always been a people person she doesn’t need me to introduce her to people if I leave before she gets here she probably won’t mind_ She thinks. Eliza makes her decision to leave, telling herself it was for her own mental and physical health, which was very much _true._ She gets out the door and halfway down the stairs (take the _elevator?_ Where there was no way to escape if Aaron set up some weird trap to “catch the noobs”?) when Angelica calls to tell her that _I just got here I can’t see you anywhere where are you_ and Eliza wonders what the consequences would really be if she lied and told her she forgot about the party and had a project to work on.

 

Ultimately, she decides that leaving her sister stranded and alone at Aaron’s rager with no warning was cruel and no one should have to deal with him on their own, even if Eliza had to, _all the time._

 

 _So close,_ she thinks to herself as she makes her way back upstairs.

 

Angelica is accepting a drink from someone whose back is turned to her. She starts to push past the mass of people in a panicked rush because the beer is in a punch bowl and Eliza does not doubt that it’s because Aaron is trying to poison everyone. She’s _this close_ to saving her sister’s life when the guy she’s with turns around and Eliza stops dead in her tracks and _stares._

 

She’s vaguely aware that her mouth is open but doesn’t have the capacity to explain that she was about to dramatically scream “ _NO!”_ not because this beautiful stranger made her jaw drop (although, _is it?_ ).

 

“ _Eliza,”_ Angelica says suddenly and shoves her.

 

“Yeah, sorry…” she says and just _look away move your stupid eyes stop staring_.

 

He holds out his hand and Eliza knows how to do that just put your hand in his and shake.

 

But he _doesn’t_ shake. He takes her hand up to his mouth and _kisses_ it that’s _weird,_ right?

 

“Alexander Hamilton,” he tells her.

 

She’s managed to pull herself together enough to understand he expects a response. “Elizabeth Schuyler,” she means to say. “If two parallel lines are cut by a transversal, then the pairs of corresponding angles are congruent,” she says instead. _Whywhywhydidyoudothatohmygodhe’slaughingnowgoodfuckinggoingIcan’tbelievethis._

 

Angelica is snickering as she leaves and _good_ she’ll remember that whenever she feels guilty about not saving her from whatever toxic waste Aaron poured into the alcohol.

 

Her hand is still in Alexander’s and she thinks that maybe she’s shaking. She wishes suddenly that she wasn’t so paranoid about Aaron ruining all her nice party dresses because this _perfect stranger_ can’t possibly be impressed by girls who go to parties in oversized t-shirts and shorts that don’t match the ugly green of their jacket and spout unsolicited math theorems instead of introducing themselves.

 

This was all Aaron Burr’s stupid fault.

 

He’s about to say something and Eliza can hardly wait to know what he thinks of her now, but someone taps her shoulder.

 

She turns her head and snaps, “ _What_.” She realizes a little too late how mean it must have sounded. “Sorry, um, did you need something?”

 

“Yeah.” Eliza recognizes her as a girl who made the mistake of agreeing to a date with Aaron Burr a while back. “Aaron Burr stole my fucking jacket.”   

 

_Of course he did._

 

“What… exactly do you want me to do?” She really just wants to turn back to Alexander, who she’s pretty sure has walked away while she wasn’t looking.

 

“He hid it somewhere, I asked for it back and he gave me this,” she hands her a napkin with words scrawled on it.

 

“I’m really sorry he did that to you, but why are you giving this to me?”

 

“He said I’d know who to give this to, and I don’t, but you’re the only one who can handle him like this.”

 

“I’m… excuse me?” Eliza can not _believe_ she’s been at the top of her class for four years straight without a single slip up only for Aaron Burr to give her the reputation of his babysitter.

 

“Does that mean anything to you?” The girl asks, gesturing to the napkin. “That jacket was really expensive.”

 

“Right, yeah. You’ll get your jacket back.”

 

The girl smiles at her briefly and leaves. _Aaron couldn’t let me have one nice thing._

 

She reads the napkin:

 

_You’re wondering why I’ve pulled you away,_

_There’s an explanation, I assure you._

_Well, there’s a game I would like you to play,_

_It took some time, could you please see it through?_

_There is a lot to unpack but don’t stress,_

_Please go back to the time I tried to kill,_

_The weapon was strange, you were so distressed,_

_Almost got expelled, they said I was ill._

_You have to do this, it is your duty,_

_People want their stuff back, don’t disappoint._

_You’ll of course be rewarded handsomely,_

_Just make sure you find the correct end point._

_You will rise to the challenge, I am sure?_

_Losing a jacket is hard to endure._

 

Eliza wonders why she didn’t just leave when she had the chance.

 

“Did she say _Aaron Burr_ stole her jacket?”

 

Eliza nearly jumps out of her skin. It takes her a second to realize Alexander never left.

 

“Have you met him?” She asks conversationally. She really did have to get going if she was going to get this girl’s jacket back to her.

 

“Yeah, he told me to stop talking all the time. He was stuck up as hell. Are we talking about the same Aaron Burr?”

 

“Maybe.” Eliza knew they were talking about the same person, Aaron always got weird around new people, specifically men. Specifically men he wanted to impress. He puts on a “mysterious animal” charade and it’s incredibly unsettling to watch. She also knew that _no one_ ever believes her when she tells them Aaron Burr is the absolute god damn weirdest and how about _you_ try to juggle being an engineering major and also Aaron fucking Burr’s babysitter, apparently. “I think I have to go,” she tells him stupidly. And then doesn’t move. Kind of just stares. _Oh my god._

 

“Hey, I can help,” he says. She’s trying to say “No, please don’t, I’m begging you, Aaron is actually crazy” but he takes the napkin out of her hand and Eliza kind of does want to spend time with him, even at the expense of any future relationship.

 

Alexander looks over it. “Is this a fucking _sonnet?_ ”

 

“I think?” Eliza doesn’t remember what a sonnet is. 

 

“Why… what does this mean? ‘The time I tried to kill?’”

 

“I think I know. Aaron is… _strange._ Last year he taped a knife to an umbrella and tried to attack someone with it at the library.”

 

Alexander has a horrified look on his face and Eliza tries to amend it with, “It was a butter knife. No one lets him near real knives, obviously.”

 

She says more things like “I got there before he could hurt anyone” and “I’m pretty sure someone took it away from him” but gives up when she decides that the best way to understand Aaron Burr is to just experience him.

 

“Listen, I understand if you don’t actually want to help, Aaron is kind of weird and it would probably be in your best interest to stay here.”

 

“No, I already said I would. You said he was at the library?”

 

Eliza nods.

 

“Lead the way.”

 

Alexander starts to talk on the way there, about books, politics, law, and even though she knows she doesn’t care about what he’s saying _,_ she finds herself enjoying the sound of his voice, the way he cares so much about so many things and finds so many words to talk about those things _._ Eliza’s always liked passionate people. She can’t imagine how anyone could care so much about the law, but she knows about wanting to talk about things people don’t want to hear. (She’s agreed to never talk to Angelica about math or science as long as she never tries to bring up politics and her meticulous plan to become president).

 

He’s talking about senators or wars or something when she shivers (it’s November in New Jersey and Aaron Burr is sending her across campus in shorts she _hates him_ ). Alexander stops talking and she is so afraid he’s about to do something stupid sweet and chivalrous like give her his jacket and Eliza _knows_ that if he does she’s going to do something dumb like shout more math garbage at him.

 

It wouldn’t have even been that big of a deal, but his hand is starting to move and maybe he’s not even about to take anything off, but she grabs his hand and accidently looks him directly in the eye. _This was on purpose pretend you did this for a reason._

 

“We’re, um, almost at the library.”

 

 _Stupid, that was dumb, oh my god,_ and then she turns around and tries to walk forward with purpose but _just drop his hand whatareyoudoingstopstopstopstop._

 

She thinks stupidly that it would be weirder if she let go now, she’s held on for too long. Eliza’s committed to it now and if she just drops it- _what is she saying._ (And she still thinks he’ll hear the base angles theorem if he tries to talk to her again anyway, so really, she’s failed to solve any one of her problems)

 

They walk through the doors of the library, Eliza still dragging Alexander forward by the hand and pointedly not looking back at him because she’s pretty sure she’s going to be alone after this.

 

“This is the men’s bathroom,” he says when she’s finally let go of his hand.

 

“This is where he did it. It might be the only smart decision he made that day, you know, deciding that trying to stab someone with an umbrella in the middle of a library was bad idea.”

 

“Right, well, it might have been a better idea to not stab anyone at all. Why did he tape it to an umbrella?”

 

“I don’t pretend to know why Aaron Burr does anything,” she says. _She hates him so much._ “You wouldn’t mind going in there on your own, would you? I’d feel weird going in without the intention of saving someone’s life.”

 

He pushes the door open and then she’s left standing alone beside the men’s restroom at Princeton’s library and _Aaron Burr did this to her._

 

She hears stall doors stall doors slamming and feet shuffling. “There’s a note stuffed in the drain of the sink and some keys next to it. I can’t find a jacket,” he shouts through the door.

 

Eliza suspected Aaron wouldn’t quit after one clue. “It’s fine, just bring it all out.”

 

Alexander drops a key to one of the dorms at Princeton and another napkin into her hands.

 

_You’re the hero my guests need and derserve._

_I am delighted you have indulged me._

_(Also please don’t drink anything I’ve served,_

_It’s not poisoned exactly, but, like, please.)_

_Remember when you acted coy to me,_

_Because I spent a bad amount of cash._

_You glared at me and loudly cried, “Really?!”_

_And then stole it and hid my hard-earned stash._

_You made it this far for crying out sakes,_

_Only just a few more napkins, not loads._

_Aaron Valerie Burr’s raising the stakes,_

 

_I am going to burn all of your clothes._

 

_Good luck! You’ll do it, ‘cause I can’t get caught._

_Although, I’m good at this, so maybe not._

 

“This is so weird.” Alexander looks just as horrified as he did when she told him about the umbrella-knife incident. “This can’t possibly _mean_ anything?”

 

“I…”

 

Eliza agrees, if she didn’t know Aaron she would have mistaken the author for a legitimate threat to her health as opposed to a nuisance.

 

“Is he really going to burn all your clothes?”

 

“Maybe on accident. I think he really wants me to finish his stupid scavenger hunt.”

 

“Do you know what he’s talking about here? The time he… spent a lot of money, I think? And you took something from him?”

 

“He spent a lot of money on a coconut a couple of years ago. I got mad and hid it under a bench and he found it anyway,” Eliza explains. “He probably wants us to go to the bench.”

 

“Okay, which bench do we go to?”

 

“It’s-” Eliza freezes. “I don’t remember! It was a long time ago and he’s done so many awful things since then-”

 

“Hey, it’s fine. Just try to think.”

 

Eliza nods. Aaron’s done so many stupid things and she’s hidden so many things from him that everything has begun to blur together and she’s honestly not even sure she even hid the coconut underneath a bench at all. Why does _Aaron_ remember?

 

“I think… it would be a bench near his dorm, right? I probably shoved it under the first thing I saw.”

 

“That’s a good idea!” Alexander sounds genuinely proud of her and Eliza feels stupid and special and dumb and stupid.

 

“So… we should head back now.” _You’re staring at him again! Look away! Oh my god! Aaron’s gonna burn your clothes! He will do it!_

 

Eliza hasn’t moved in what feels like too long. Apparently Alexander is much more proactive than she is because he takes her hand and tugs her forward like she had been doing just a few minutes before. (Although he is substantially less panicked and forceful)

 

She thinks that maybe he’s started talking again but she can hardly focus on anything other than the fact that she can he can feel his hand around hers and that he’s decided that physical contact with the girl who’s done nothing but embarrass herself and ruin his night since he met her is something he wants.

 

“Did you hear me?” He asks suddenly.

 

“Sorry, what?”

 

“I said you never told me your name. Remember? I told you my name and you said something math-y?” He says like that was something she could have forgotten.

 

“I’m Elizabeth Schuyler.”

 

“Schuyler? Like Angelica Schuyler?”

 

“We’re sisters.”

 

He grins at her and Eliza wishes he would quit making her want to do stupid things.

 

There are five possible benches Eliza could have hidden the coconut under. Eliza suggests they split up and then almost tries to take it back because his hand is _really_ warm.

 

She’s looking under her second bench when Alexander yells at her from fifty feet away.

 

“I found the next clue and a watch,” he tells her when she kneels next to him. “It’s signed ‘Eliza Schuyler’ and… is this your handwriting? It’s completely different.

 

Eliza couldn’t spot a difference between her own handwriting and the style of the words written on the napkin. The thought of Aaron studying her handwriting and then practicing forging it unsettles her.

 

“It’s not even a sonnet,” he says as he passes it off to her.

 

_two CaRs leave wYomIng at teN o’clock. the maGenta car travels fOr foUrTeen mileS before It goes Down a hill and turns lEft for twentY kilOmeters and foUR seconDs. the yellOw car drives in the oppOsite direction at 20 m/h. how far apaRt are they by february._

 

“Is this a math problem?” Alexander asks. “Can you solve it?”

“Um. No. This is all nonsense, he used seconds as unit of measurement for distance. But the capitalized letters probably spell something.”

 

“Right, yeah, that makes sense,” he agrees. “So… ‘Crying outside your door’? Is that… something that happened?”

 

“Last month he got a zit. He sent me, like, forty emails about it, he thought it was going to ruin his social life. It did, but only because he got so neurotic about it _._ ” Eliza thinks for a moment. “I found him crying outside the door of my room, which I guess is where he wants us to go?”

Alexander agrees and lets her lead him towards her room.

 

“He didn’t try very hard for this one,” Eliza comments upon seeing the stolen item and napkin that was clearly lazily thrown on the ground outside her door.

 

“How do you think he stole someone’s sock?” Alexander asks, referring to the sweaty piece of clothing on the floor.

 

“I just wish he didn’t stuff the clue into it.” The napkin looks _damp_ , why is he _doing this to her._

 

Alexander takes it out and reads it out loud, saving Eliza the trouble of touching the sweaty sock.

 

_You have almost made it, who gives a shit,_

_I’m gonna be honest, I feel sickly,_

_Am I going to heaven, ‘cause I’m hit._

_I stole a jacket and made this quickly._

_Oh my god, why do I keep on trying?_

_‘Cause at this point I believe that I’m dead._

_I’ve got Swine Flu or something, I’M DYING._

_So tired from my own party I fled._

_Maybe I shouldn't have thrown a party,_

_My vision is getting a bit bleary_

_Tell the girl I stole from I’m not sorry._

_I need sleep now and quit feeling weary_

_Anyway, thank you for playing my game._

_My dumb thing with the sonnets has been quite lame._

 

“ _This one_ can’t possibly mean anything, right?” Alexander insists. “It’s all nonsense, and, like, a cry for help or something.”

 

“I don’t think he’s referencing something that he did…” she remembers his threat to burn her clothes. “But I’m pretty sure I know where he is.”

 

She unlocks her door and immediately makes her way to her closet. Once she opens the closet door, she finds a sweaty and exhausted Aaron Burr curled up on the floor, face hidden by what she assumed was the jacket he had stolen from the girl who handed her the first napkin.

 

Alexander screams when he sees what she can only assume he thought was a dead body. It was actually very endearing.

 

“Aaron,” she snaps, feeling only a little bad. He really did look sick. “ _Aaron,_ ” she says again, this time poking him in the side with her toe.

 

He must have fallen asleep while she and Alexander were out trying to find everything he had stolen because Aaron jumps at her touch (Alexander startles too, she never explained there wasn’t a dead body in her closet. It was still endearing).

 

She dumps everything they’d collected on his lap. “I did it.”

 

Aaron grunts and pulls the jacket back over his face. “Thanks. Bye.” He tries to pull the closet door shut, but Eliza stops him.

 

“Hey, _no_ , this is my closet. Did you forget that there’s an actual rager going on in your room? The one you made me leave so that I could go get the stuff you _stole_ from your guests?” She tugs on his arm, trying to pull him out, out of her closet, out of her dorm, out of her life for just a few hours, _please_. “That girl who gave me your stupid sonnet was pissed she’s probably gonna burn your stuff if you don’t get this back to her.”

 

He just says something quiet and stupid like, “Who told you what a sonnet is.”

 

Eliza gives up. Partly because he’s heavy and is dead set on not moving, and also because he looks like _death,_ like he’s going to pass out if she makes him get up.

 

“I don’t _believe_ this,” she mutters, pulling the pillow and blanket off her bed. “Don’t throw ragers on days you know you're sick, right?” she says as she positions his head comfortably over the pillow.

 

She had _one_ pillow and _one_ blanket, she’s going to wake up tomorrow cold and in pain Aaron had better quit torturing her with sonnets and telling people she’s his babysitter.

 

Aaron mumbles something probably bitter and ungrateful, the ingrate, and turns away from her.

 

Eliza shuts the door and he’s finally out of sight and _out of mind_ (she’s honestly so sick of him).

 

Suddenly she’s just _so tired_ . She slumps against her closet door ready to doze off right there. Alexander sits next to her and he’s so _warm_ and she’s so _tired_ that she leans against him comfortably, possibly the first interaction they’ve had where Eliza didn’t want to die of embarrassment, even if it’s only because too worn out to care.

 

“I’m sorry I made you do all that,” she says. Her speech is slurred and quiet, he probably didn’t hear her.

 

But she feels him rest his head atop hers and he says “If it takes a bizarre stolen-property-scavenger-hunt for us to meet, it will have been worth it,” and even her fuzzy and exhausted mind (did she drink any of the poisoned punch earlier?) can tell that’s the dumbest and greatest thing she’s ever heard anyone say to her.


End file.
